Page 50 of Forbidden Vows

“That leaves you with your hands tied and the snake still in the garden, so to speak.”

“Precisely. But none of this even fucking matters if you’re not safe. If our baby isn’t safe. So, for the love of God, will you please do as I say? Please just follow my orders and play your part while I dig into this and find the evidence I need to get rid of Sergei, and whoever else he’s got on his payroll.”

There goes the small semblance of peace I thought I’d acquired. There goes my ritzy, artisanal café. My dream is to make something of myself, to bring my child into a world I could be proud of, our little corner of the universe. It’s tainted now, forever shadowed by the threat of monsters lurking in the dark.

I’m stuck here.

Anton’s company no longer feels like it’s enough to soothe my soul. He continues to say it’s only a matter of time. He keeps a certain distance from me, though he probably thinks I haven’t picked up on it yet. But I have. He’s here, but not really, not fully.

I can feel my happily ever after slipping away.

Chapter 17

Anton

This isn’t how I wanted it to be.

A month’s worth of tension has piled up between Eileen and me, causing a certain amount of distrust to fill the room whenever we’re together. Physically, we’re a perfect match. She’s the yin to my yang and then some. She’s got me hooked on her magic, and I can’t get enough of her. I’ve yet to tell her this, but the mere sight of her and that beautiful, growing, round baby bump fills me with nothing but joy and excitement.

I can’t make the most of it, though. I can’t enjoy the pregnancy, nor can I truly open up to her. Hell, I doubt I even deserve a woman like Eileen.

“Dr. Hartman will see you now.” A perky-looking nurse comes into the waiting room, snapping me out of my thoughts. She leads us down the hall into the ultrasound room. Once inside, she helps Eileen onto the table and then turns on the machine.

We barely spoke on the way over. In bed, we’re in flawless sync. Out of bed, it feels like we’re strangers stuck together by the laws of civil union.

“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Karpov,” Dr. Hartman greets us as he walks in.

“What did the blood tests say?” I ask, skipping past the introductions, as always.

“Everything is looking good so far,” he says with a gentle smile. “I’m glad to see those prenatal vitamins are keeping her minerals in check. The numbers are in both the mother’s and baby’s favor.”

“Is there anything else we should be doing in the second trimester?”

Eileen scowls at me. “I’m right here, you know. You don’t have to speak as if I’m not in the room.”

The pregnancy hormones and having to stay home have my wife on a razor-sharp edge. There are good days, and then there are awful days. I do my best to keep her head above water, yet sometimes I can still feel her slipping away. What we have is fragile enough, already.

“My apologies,” I reply. “Dr. Hartman, please, tell my darling wife what we can expect in the second trimester. I’m merely an observer.”

The doctor laughs lightly. “It’s nice to see a concerned and involved father-to-be.”

Eileen ignores the doctor’s comment and replies, “We would really like to be able to find out the sex today if we could.”

“Alright then, let’s get a sneak peek at the little one,” Dr. Hartman says as he squirts gel on Eileen’s belly and moves the wand around, searching for our baby.

I look at the screen, listening to the hum of the machine, but my gaze soon wanders back to Eileen. I stare at her for a moment. A beauty, even on her worst day. Her long red hair flows loosely over one shoulder. Her green eyes are focused on the screen, and her breath slows as she listens.

Soon, quick successions ofthwump,thwump,thwumpfill the room. Dr. Hartman gives a soft, “Hmm,” and I notice his eyebrows raise just slightly. Eileen catches it, too.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

The doctor smiles softly and shakes his head. “Nothing is wrong at all. It’s not uncommon to miss twins during the first ultrasound when they’re still so small—”

“Wait, what? Did you say twins?” I ask in disbelief.

“Yes. Two babies, two strong heartbeats,” Dr. Hartman says. “Here, look at this,” he points to the screen, identifying two different shadows against a grainy background.

“Twins,” I whisper.

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